Head coach Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers will have their hands full against No. 1 Ohio State this weekend, an opponent they know all too well.
These two Big Ten rivals have faced each other 86 times, and the Buckeyes have had the Badgers’ number, winning 63 of those matchups. Ohio State won their last meeting against Wisconsin, a 24-10 road victory in 2023.
Wisconsin’s last win over the Buckeyes was a 31-18 victory in 2010, which also happened to be the last time fans rushed the field at Camp Randall Stadium. Badgers’ running back John Clay was the star of the game, as he became the first player to run for over 100 yards on the Buckeyes in 29 games. Wisconsin legend J.J. Watt also performed well, racking up two sacks. But since then the Badgers have dropped ten straight against the Buckeyes, which has included some heartbreaking defeats.
The first of those brutal losses came the following season, when No. 12 Wisconsin — led by star quarterback Russell Wilson — travelled to Columbus to take on unranked Ohio State. Wisconsin found themselves in some trouble late, trailing 26-14 with less than five minutes remaining in the game.
Wilson and the Badgers started to mount a furious comeback. They took a 29-26 lead with just over a minute to play after a 49-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Jared Abbrederis. Ohio State answered with a 40-yard go-ahead touchdown with 20 seconds left in the game. They wound up winning that game 33-29, which set the tone for the ensuing decade-plus of Buckeye dominance over the Badgers.
Since then, Wisconsin has lost some close games to Ohio State, including overtime losses in Madison in 2012 and 2016. They also played the Buckeyes three times in the Big Ten Championship Game, which featured a 59-0 rout in 2014 and a 34-21 defeat in 2019, a game where the Badgers had a 21-7 lead at halftime before allowing 27 unanswered points. But neither of those losses come close to the heartbreak of the 2017 Big Ten Championship Game.
The 2017 Wisconsin Badgers have a case for the best team in program history. Led by their southpaw quarterback Alex Hornibrook, freshman superstar running back Jonathan Taylor and a stout defense that allowed a Big Ten-best 13.9 points per game, the Badgers marched their way to a 12-0 season and earned a date with the Buckeyes in Indianapolis.
Wisconsin fell into a 21-7 hole early in the second quarter. They tried to dig themselves out, inching closer following a couple field goals that made it a one score game in the third quarter. They kept rallying, and a 1-yard Chris James touchdown run followed by an Hornibrook completion to Troy Fumagalli for the two-point conversion drew the Badgers within three in the fourth quarter. Ohio State responded with a 15 play, seven minute drive that resulted in a field goal to make the score 27-21.
After trading punts, the Badgers got the ball with just under three minutes left in the fourth and a chance to take the lead. They made their way down the field and made it past the 50, but a 10-yard holding penalty ended up being the dagger that killed the drive, and on 4th and 20, Hornibrook threw an interception that effectively ended the game.
These two schools have taken on very different paths since their conference title game in 2017. Wisconsin football has spiraled into disarray while Ohio State has remained a national powerhouse. Their 6-7 2011 campaign — when Luke Fickell was interim coach, ironically enough — turned out to be the Buckeyes’ last losing season to date.
Since then, Ohio State has won five Big Ten titles and two national championships. Meanwhile, Wisconsin hasn’t found the same success they had in the 2010s, and they saw their 22-year bowl game streak snapped in 2024.
And so, a storied yet unbalanced college football rivalry continues on Saturday. The Badgers will look to enact revenge against the Buckeyes this weekend, while Ohio State looks to continue their dominance over Wisconsin. A win for the Badgers would easily be the program’s biggest in years, and it would deliver a ton of confidence and momentum for Fickell and his players. A loss would mean their 11th consecutive defeat against the Buckeyes, with no end of that losing streak in sight as more and more questions surrounding the state of Wisconsin football arise.
